Road Block
by Kitten The Kokeshi Doll
Summary: She died a long time ago... and they moved on, or at least they thought they did, now somethings blocking the way
1. Default Chapter

A/n: Why do so little people READ these things? The stories I mean rather than the A/n's which absolutely no one reads.  
  
Chapter 1:  
  
Isadora struggled against Colette's grasp her brothers on either side of her were fighting against Kevin and Hugo. There was no time for a happy reunion for the triplets, Violet Baudelaire was in serious trouble. "You just watch Olaf, my siblings will be here any minute, they'll help me." Violet said Cruelly. Olaf laughed cruelly. When one laughs it is usually to celebrate joy, I can safely say that Olaf and his idiotic group of companions took great enjoyment from this. How one could find something of this nature amusing I have no idea all I can say is that Olaf and his troupe somehow did. "Oh they will, will they?" he sneered. "Don't you REALISE orphan, why you're siblings aren't here!" Esmé asked her orange lipstick glittering in the setting sun. "Don't listen to them Violet please just don't!" howled Quigley. He stepped on Hugo's foot in annoyance.  
  
"They'll be here." Violet whispered the hope was evident in her voice. What if it took them too long to find the V.F.D? "Your siblings I'm afraid cannot be here to rescue you..." Olaf said a cruel smirk on his face. "Oh just tell her already I'm sick of this!" Esmé snapped. Esmé was Count Olaf's ridiculously stylish girlfriend. She lived for what was in and apparently hideous fire dresses were in. "Your bookworm brother and the toothy brat are dead!" snapped Olaf. "NO!" Violet yelled. "Don't listen to..." Colette placed her hand over Isadora's mouth her arm easily snaking itself around her head. Colette was a contortionist at the local carnival or had been until she had joined Count Olaf, and the carnival was now burnt down. "They are, just moments ago the hook handed man threw them off the mountain you stupid orphan now you are the last remaining Baudelaire." Violet took a few seconds to process this information. If she was the last Baudelaire then... "You're our key to the Baudelaire fortune!" Esmé squealed delightfully. It sickens me to think of how happy she was at this moment in time. Especially considering Violet's plight. A word which here means 'she was thinking about how to get out of this situation. But not doing a very good job'  
  
"They could be just around the corner Violet, PLEASE I'm begging you don't listen." Duncan called. She wasn't listening, she couldn't listen to him right now. "This is true Olaf?" she questioned her eyebrows furrowed. She wished she had her ribbon. "Every word now you stupid orphan brat come here with your stupid friends." "I'm not as stupid as you think." Olaf smirked this was all part of his plan. I wish I could turn back time and tell her before she decided to take drastic measures. "If I'm your last hope at the Baudelaire fortune then..." she took a step toward the edge. Esmé widened her orange kohl painted eyes. "Without me you can't get it." "VIOLET NO!" Cried Isadora she had bit Colette's hand so she could speak. "I'm sorry." Violet whispered tears in her eyes. She took another shaky step towards the edge. "NOOOOOO!" yelled all three Quagmires at the same time. Violet shook her head her tears stopping in icy tracks over her face. "Forgive me." She pleaded and then in one final swift movement Violet had thrown herself from the top of Mount Fraught. Isadora screamed and closed her eyes, the two brothers who had been crying were now furiously trying to see if she was hanging by her fingertips on a ledge. Needless to say she wasn't.  
  
Olaf laughed. Why he was laughing was a mystery soon to be revealed to the three triplets. "Shut up you idiot, with Violet dead you can't get her fortune anyway!" Duncan seethed. "I'm not as stupid as you think." Mimicked Esmé her voice all squeaky. "She fell right for it, Oh Olaf you are so smart." "Fell for it?" Quigley asked his lip trembling. He was the first to figure it out. "Guys!" yelled a voice. It was Klaus. He was running up the pathway Sunny grasped in his arms. "NO KLAUS GO BACK!" Screamed Isadora. "No! Olaf, Volunteers are everywhere!" Klaus pointed to the west-side of the mountain where a large body of people where moving toward them. Olaf seemed to realise. "We'll get the Baudelaire brats later, take those three and go!" he barked to the three former circus freaks. Isadora once again bit Colette freeing herself. Duncan and Quigley kicked their captors. I should like to take this moment to say they had the advantage as the males have a particular weak spot I shall not mention, all you need to know is that this is what they kicked.  
  
"Nevermind them come on!" "Only two left to go!" Cackled Esmé as she stepped toward the car. This infuriated Duncan so much he kicked her. She screeched and fell backward. Unlike Violet's graceful exit she tumbled headfirst down the mountain side. Olaf and his remaining companions screeched off down the mountainside. They stopped a few roads down and Klaus could only assume they were picking up Esmé perhaps she deserved a proper burial. Then again, after all she'd done, perhaps she didn't. "Guys where's violet?" The Quagmire triplets all looked sadly at Klaus. Quigley was the one to break the news to the two remaining Baudelaires. "She's... dead." The word dead seemed to final. "No Violet not dead!" Sunny screeched in disbelief. "We only just spoke to her. Told her to go on ahead while we alerted the V.F.D." Klaus whispered staring at the snow his glasses were icing over. "No." Sunny whispered. She clutched onto her brother and cried. "He killed her?" Klaus asked tearfully.  
  
"No, she er... killed herself." "What why!" Klaus demanded. "Olaf told her he'd had his henchman throw you off the mountain. He said she was the last remaining heir to the Baudelaire fortune and she... she didn't want to be, she didn't want him to... she threw herself...she..." Duncan broke off sniffing terribly. The five sat there in mourning. It was a dark day. I wish I could tell you that as they got to the bottom Violet was laughing and saying they were all stupid enough to believe it. I wish I could tell you that Olaf and his gang died on their way down the path. Neither of these things happened. I can say that they were not allowed to identify the body found at the bottom of Mount Fraught, it was apparently so battered it was barely recognisable.  
  
I can say though with a small smile on my face as I type that they moved on. Life keeps moving even if death stops one. Klaus and Sunny had to grow up. Olaf's disappearance was a bit of a worry to them at first but soon they grew to accept he wasn't in their lives anymore. 


	2. chapter 2

I shall spare you the long and boring A/n's this time but only because I am a very generous and kind person. The factor I have eaten too much sugar has nothing to do with it so stop looking at me like that!

ps] Sorry for the terrible lay out i figured out how to do single returns but it takes forever.  
  
Chapter 2  
  
"This place is far too big." Klaus said eventually. They'd been living there for nearly a year. "There's only five of us and six rooms, perhaps we should rent it out?" Isadora didn't answer. At seventeen [nearly eighteen] she was obsessed with music and poetry still. Right now she was dancing to some American singer. "Izzy did you hear me, love? I said we're going to rent it out to someone?"  
"Oh go ask my brothers!" Isadora snapped. Sunny looked up from her book and laughed.  
"Klaus you know better!" she said over Izzy's music. Sunny was now six years old. Her hair long and dark like her brothers and her eyes the brightest green. Where she had got that from nobody knew.  
"Yeah I do... come on." He dragged his little sister to the living room where Duncan and Quigley were fighting over the Tv remote. Typical boys. Seventeen and still fighting over cartoons.  
  
"Hey," said Quigley, Duncan took the opportunity to be cunning and steal the remote and flick back on his channel.  
"Guys I was thinking, this place is kind of big and lord knows we could use some extra money." Klaus wasn't yet allowed to tap into his inheritance until he was eighteen. He still had another 3 months to go yet. The four had all got jobs, separate shifts of course so there was always someone home to look after Sunny.  
"Klaus is trying to ask if he can rent it out!" Giggled Sunny as she sat on the sofa. She was the typical 6 going on 30 kind of girl. She could read everything, she was good at cooking and she had a knack at inventing. She was so it seemed the perfect middle of her siblings both the living and the dead.   
"Oh, good idea," Quigley said as he snatched for the remote his other triplet had stolen.   
"Yeah..." Duncan agreed as he held the remote out of reach.  
  
"Set up fliers then?"  
"Sure thing... ow Quigley gerroff!" Duncan had matured a lot over the past four years physically despite the emotional and maturity range mentally of a six year old, he looked identical to Quigley. Tall dark and handsome, many of the girls at the high school fancied them and although Quigley often flirted Duncan never seemed to. Klaus often wondered, and he and Isadora [who were now an item] often made crude jokes about him. Sunny went to the local Primary school. She was already in year four as she was very advanced. They had put her up a few years for being exceptionally... exceptional.  
  
A few weeks later there had been a lot of interest in the flat. Anyone who has ever been searching for a roommate should know how difficult it is. You get Rock stars, Pasta Salesmen, Lonely people and cat lovers. However most of the time you don't want Rock stars, Pasta Salesmen, Lonely people or cat lovers. So it should have come as a great relief when the doorbell rang on Saturday. Sunny thought she'd rather have preferred the Rock star, Pasta Salesman, Lonely Person or the cat lover.   
"Hello there." Said the kind voice. Sunny had been the one who answered the door. She instantly didn't like the feeling this girl gave her. It felt as though the girl [or was it woman?] was staring right through her. "I'm Veronica, I heard there was a room up for rent."  
"Position filled." Sunny said coldly. Why was this girl smiling so much?   
"Is anybody else in?" Questioned Veronica.   
"Nope all alone, school finishes earlier than Klaus's." Sunny explained briefly. She wished her sibling or her friends were here right now.  
"They shouldn't leave a little girl on their own," scolded Veronica. "Do you mind if I take a look anyway, See what I'm looking for?"   
"No strangers." Sunny said trying to find an excuse.  
"Oh of course sorry er... what did you say your name was?"  
"Er... my name?" asked Sunny as though this was the oddest question in the world. "My name is... Serena yeah..."   
"Ok, 'Serena'." Veronica said using air quotes. It was almost as if she knew she was lying.  
  
"Oh hello, who might you..." Klaus and Isadora stopped in their tracks as the woman turned to face them.  
"Hello I'm Veronica, I came to look at the flat but your daughter said it was taken already."  
"She's my sister actually and no it's not, Sunny!" Klaus didn't take his eyes from hers.   
"Sor-rry Klaus. Only trying to help. No strangers remember." Sunny said moodily "I'm going to my room." Klaus was looking from Isadora to Veronica.   
"Can I have a look round I need a place close to campus."   
"You go to collegethen?" Isadora asked evidently not feeling as shaken as Klaus.   
"Yeah first term. I turned nineteen a while ago." Veronica smiled. Her long black hair was to her shoulders and tied up behind her ears with a red ribbon.  
"So full name?" Klaus asked looking her up and down. Isadora got the wrong idea and hit him.   
"Veronica Felicity Davis." Veronica chanted as though she had been forced to remember this from a young age. Like a small child who is taught their address incase they get lost. Veronica Felicity Davis... V.F.D. It was a coincidence surely? Could she really be an enemy? Or was she on their side of the schism?  
  
"Ok so this is the spare room..." Like many tours this was long and boring so I shall spare you the 45 minute tour that Klaus gave Veronica.   
"It's lovely, my last house was HUGE but I only got one room and stuff. Then I moved in by myself some place but it was far too far away for me to get to college."  
"Oh dear. I know how about some dinner, are you staying Veronica?" Veronica looked undecided for a moment then said.   
"If that's alright. Do you want me to help?"  
"That's alright Vio...Veronica." Klaus mentally slapped himself. There are two types of slapping oneself. Physical: where your hand comes down on yourself in a forceful manner often leaving a bruise. And mentally, where you think to yourself how stupid you are.   
"Sunny will do it."  
"She's six!" Veronica said in shock "Seven tops."  
"She loves cooking, honestly. And I'll watch over her." Explained Klaus. Sunny had been cooking since she could walk and often made delicious food. Of course for safety reasons Klaus always had someone watch her.  
  
"Sunny?" he called. His sister was sat on her bed reading her book. Klaus was surprised the words hadn't worn right off the page the amount of times she'd read it.   
"Oh dinnertime?"   
"Yeah can you manage for six? Veronica's staying."   
"Klaus is she...moving in with us?" Sunny asked awkwardly.   
"Maybe... Why?" Klaus wanted to wrap his arm around his little sister. They hadn't been close in years. he sat down next to her and she squirmed away.   
"It's just...nothing, nevermind." Sunny got up and wandered into the kitchen. Normally when Sunny cooked she had a laugh and a joke with whoever was watching her but today she was very quiet. She didn't know why she didn't like Veronica, she just found her odd. Not evil just odd.   
"Oops." Sunny said. She had cooked Spaghetti Bolognese but now when pouring the drinks she had spilt orange juice all over her top.   
"Aw Sunny. C'mere." Klaus grabbed a cloth and dabbed his sisters shirt. "Go on go get dressed."  
"Sorry."   
"It's alright." Klaus said. He let his sister go and she went to her room. Quigley and Duncan got back at 5. They only had part-time jobs and worked from three until five, they had been given permission to leave school's registration 20 minutes early so they could get to work.  
  
"I told you, you shouldn't have hit on the boss's daughter." Duncan scolded.   
"I didn't hit on her I just said she had nice...Oh, hello Izzy." Quigley said embarrassedly.   
"Hello yourself, This is Veronica." Isadora said nodding her head toward her friend who was sat beside her.  
"Hello, you must be..."   
"Quigley." Quigley said awkwardly. Something was stirring at the back of his mind. Duncan didn't say a word to her.   
"I'll be right back." He muttered. "Klaus who the f....flip is she." He caught himself before he swore in front of Sunny. Sunny was helping carry the plates, of course she could only carry one at a time.  
  
"Our new roommate apparently." Sunny said clicking her teeth. She evidently disapproved.   
"What no way! Why?"   
"Look I know what you mean, she gives me the creeps but I think Klaus likes her." She handed Duncan a plate.  
"Klaus trust me you're better off with my SISTER and that's saying something."  
"Look the subject is closed ok, she might be moving in with us so just keep yourselves to yourselves ok?"  
  
"So Veronica, what're you studying at college?" asked Quigley trying to make conversation.   
"Mechanics and engineering." Duncan nearly choked on his dinner. "Are you alright?" she asked worriedly.   
"Fine I'm... mechanics and engineering you say?"   
"Yes I'm there on a scholarship so I have to keep my grades up." She said. "My dad didn't want to pay for me to go to college."   
"Dad?"   
"I'm adopted." She explained "I was kicked out when I was 18 by the bloody ignorant...oh sorry Sunny." She looked guilty.   
"Why did he kick you out?"   
"I was independent I suppose. He wanted a kid. He took me to the bank on my eighteenth and yelled at the bank clerks then threw me out, something about having a stupid name, it's his name anyway!" she said. Quigley nodded. "When did you guys move in here then?"  
"About a year ago, we'd all got jobs and pulled together." Klaus explained.  
  
"Did you know each other since you were younger then?"   
"We were thirteen we met Isadora and Duncan at an Academy. Quigley came later."  
"Yeah I'd be late for my own funeral I would." Laughed Quigley. The rest of Dinner was very much enjoyed. Klaus and Duncan however couldn't help but feel something strange about this girl. Klaus was certain it wasn't love, he loved Isadora. But he got the same fluttery stomach and light headedness that he had when he'd first met Isadora. He couldn't.  
  
"Are you alright?" Isadora asked Klaus once Veronica had gone.   
"Yeah I'm fine..."   
"No your not, why won't you look me in the eye Klaus?" she asked. "I heard you call her Vio... earlier, were you going to say Violet?"  
"Yeah does that seem stupid?" he asked with a sigh. He wrapped his arm around her.  
"No, after we thought Quigley died I kept calling Duncan Quigley, or asking where he was."  
"She just... I guess she looks about her age and stuff. It's nothing. Ok?" he kissed her lightly which she seemed to think balanced as an excuse.   
"Klaus, you should be at work." Sunny scolded.   
"Yeah I know, I would call in sick but, hey just think in three months I can pack it all in eh?"   
"Hopefully, bye Klaus." Sunny kissed her brother knowing she wouldn't see him again til morning. She was worried about her brother. He looked at Veronica the same way he looked at Isadora almost. It was... odd. Sunny liked her brother dating Isadora she didn't want him dating Veronica. A few weeks later Veronica moved in, much to Sunny's shock.  
  
"Hello Sunny." Sunny was pulling the key out of the door when she noticed someone was already in.   
"Oh, hello."  
"I only had a half day at college so I've been here a while, do you want to help me with the last of my stuff?"   
"Sure I guess." Sunny had always been taught to be polite. Her parents had taught her, her sister, and her brother. So she didn't have a choice. Sunny grabbed a suitcase.  
  
"I like your hair..." Sunny said awkwardly, she didn't like silence. Silence reminded her of Lake Lachrymose and it's horrid silence. It reminded her of the sleepless nights on Mount Fraught, it reminded her of Uncle Monty's dead body.  
"Thanks." Veronica said fingering her long ebony hair. It was still tied up with a blue ribbon. "It looks like yours, hey later maybe I could braid it for you?" she said trying to break the ice.   
"No, thank you."  
"It doesn't take long honestly."  
"It's alright..."  
"Hey at least you don't use a bow anymore eh?" Sunny paused. She was sure nobody had mentioned to her that she had had to wear a bow as a baby. They must have done though.  
  
"hey Sunny?" called Klaus's voice.   
"Here..." she called then she realised her mistake a moment too late. Veronica was getting dressed. Klaus, not even knowing Veronica was there, walked right in. Veronica screamed. Klaus was hurriedly pushed from the room but not before he caught an eyeful, literally. On the top of her chest was a tattoo of an eye. Coincidence?   
"Sorry!" he said from the other side of the door. Isadora was laughing like mad.   
"Shut up Izzy, I didn't know Veronica was here yet."   
"Oh I thought you'd walked in on Sunny." The door opened and Veronica appeared.   
"Sorry about that I..."   
"My fault." Klaus said hands in the air. Veronica shifted awkwardly.   
"I'll lock the door next time, it's just Sunny was helping me get unpacked and I... I didn't think, sorry."   
"Interesting tattoo." He murmered to her. She blushed as he left.   
"Idiot." She muttered laughing.  
  
I must say inviting Veronica to live with them was one of the biggest mistakes the Baudelaires had made since allowing Violet to go on and rescue the Quagmires while they alerted the V.F.D. Veronica brought with her trouble beyond their imagination. Of course now is not the time to mention such troubles.


	3. chapter 3

  
  
Chapter 3:  
  
"Where'd you go to last night?"  
  
"What, oh hello Sunny didn't see you."  
  
"Nobody ever does." Sunny said bitterly, hoisting herself up onto the counter. Veronica poured them both drinks.  
  
"I went to work."  
  
"Where do you work?"  
  
"At a club, I do a bit of dancing." She explained.  
  
"Dancing?" Duncan asked raising his eyebrows. She laughed.  
  
"Not that kind of dancing." She said. It was Saturday. Quigley worked weekend shifts but not Wednesdays or Fridays where as Duncan preferred to work 5 solids then have a break. Klaus and Isadora had gone on a date so...  
  
"I just do a bit of dancing so I can earn enough money for rent and stuff." She said. She had been doing it since she was 15 so she knew it was pretty hard. Her dad hadn't given her pocket money, or very much at all for that matter.  
  
"Oh," Sunny said sipping her lemonade. She opened the freezer and put a scoop of ice cream in hers. Veronica shook her head laughing.  
  
"So Duncan what do you do for a living?"  
  
"I work at an evening school, I only teach juniors though I'm not really allowed to teach so it's kind of like a helping job. Quitting in a few weeks anyway."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"When I turn eighteen I'm rich so," She rolled her eyes.  
  
"Inheritance money?"  
  
"Yeah did you get anything from your real parents?"  
  
"You know I don't really know." Veronica said thoughtfully. "I mean dad never said I did, apparently I was adopted when I was very small. I don't even remember my real parents, or my adopted mum."  
  
"You don't remember your adopted mum when did she die?" Duncan asked gently. He knew it could be a sensitive subject, yet her reply was toneless as though she couldn't care less.  
  
"About four or five years ago." She could see Duncan looked puzzled. "I don't tell many people this, but, I... Sunny, can you go play somewhere please?" Sunny clicked her teeth and left. "When I was fourteen I lost my memory, everything from the past fourteen years was lost, my adopted dad told me everything from scratch, I'd fallen down the stairs apparently."  
  
"Apparently?" he queried. Veronica got an odd feeling that he didn't believe her.  
  
"I remember falling..." she put a hand to her head. "And I whacked my head really hard, but I thought it was much longer to fall than stairs."  
  
"Ouch." She turned her back on him and pushed her hair out of the way revealing a scar across the back of her head.  
  
"Only thing I've got from my past, a scar, I don't even have a rattle, the doctors said one small thing from my past could spark off a flood of memories but I never remember anything, dad said I'm hopeless."  
  
"You're not hopeless!" Duncan said suddenly. Veronica laughed.  
  
"I don't remember getting my tattoo either." Veronica fingered her top. She had a small hole in the bottom of it, just large enough to fit her finger through.  
  
"Tattoo?"  
  
"Well I would show you but it's... er..." Duncan closed his eyes.  
  
"I get it.""Klaus your cell phone." Isadora brandished the phone in his face. He looked puzzled but took it anyway.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hello is this Mr. Klaus Baudelaire?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Well this is Elizabeth Stanton from the..." Klaus listened and bit his lip. Isadora looked puzzled.  
  
"I turn eighteen soon, they want me to... identify the body."  
  
"After all this time?" asked Isadora. Klaus blinked tears from his eyes.  
  
"Yeah apparently it's well preserved, they can't bury her until it's 100% certain."  
  
"I'll come with when is it?"  
  
"Next week. As I'm the next of kin they've decided seventeen is old enough. I'd rather you didn't come Izzy."  
  
"Oh god Klaus." She wrapped her arms around his neck. She felt so sorry for him. At least she'd never been asked to identify her parents bodies, thank god fire just turned things to ash."Woah, who died?" Veronica asked noting their grim faces when they walked in.  
  
"My sister." Veronica jumped six foot before realising Sunny was next to her.  
  
"Klaus don't scare me like that." She said putting her hand to her heart.  
  
"The morgue called, they want me to identify her body." Duncan froze solid. Veronica stood up.  
  
"You know this really doesn't concern me, I better...you know English paper...and..." she stood up and left. Klaus normally would have stopped her.  
  
"Klaus please don't cry." Sunny said. "Am I allowed to come?"  
  
"No Sunny,"  
  
"Look I just want to say goodbye, I never got to say goodbye properly." Sunny pleaded.  
  
"Ok Sunny but... it'll be scary ok?"  
  
"Yeah I know." Sunny said. She put her book down and sighed. "But once she's buried, we can move on."  
  
"I thought we already had." Isadora sighed."Duncan?" asked Veronica a few days later. He looked up. "Do you drive, I really need a ride to work the bus is on strike."  
  
"Yeah sure. Klaus, going out bye." He didn't give him time to reply. Veronica shook her head boys were so blunt. His car was very old and broken down. He didn't worry because as long as it worked it didn't bother him, he'd get it fixed up soon enough anyway.  
  
"Where is it?"  
  
"I never remember the road name, it's down by the town hall." He nodded. He wasn't really allowed to drive as he only had his permit you're supposed to have a licensed driver with you.  
  
"I feel sorry for Klaus." Veronica said. "I was pretty insensitive about his sister."  
  
"It's ok you didn't know. It was...a long time ago."  
  
"Ok. If it's not too sensitive a question... How did she die?"  
  
"She...killed herself, she was due to inherit money when she came of age, this guy told her she was the last Baudelaire and she cried and killed herself infront of us all."  
  
"Those mountains are huge it's scary to think of someone..."  
  
"Hold the phone, I never said she threw herself off a mountain."  
  
"Oh didn't you? I thought you did, where'd that come from then?" she asked. "Just here yeah, thanks Duncan."  
  
She got out of the car."You want me to pick you up later?" he asked.  
  
"If you could, midnight?"  
  
"Good, tell you what how about I stay?"  
  
"No, please, I'm fine. Honestly." She pulled her coat tightly around her. He nodded.  
  
"See you at midnight then Cinderella." Cinderella? Cinderella? Something about that made her think. She didn't know what."Klaus?" asked Isadora. "Are you ok?"  
  
"I'm fine yeah."  
  
"Liar, liar." She said smiling wanly at him. He smirked.  
  
"Nothing." He kissed her gently. His hands snaking around her waist.  
  
"Get a room! Six year old here!" Sunny protested.  
  
"Yeah you two break it up Sunny doesn't want a niece or nephew yet." Isadora sneered at her brother.  
  
"Shut up you idiot. Anyway I didn't see you stopping yourself with that bosses daughter lady the other day." Quigley smirked.  
  
"Hey! I'll have you know all we did was kiss. A lot." Sunny grimaced.  
  
"You guys are gross."  
  
"Hey guys."  
  
"Where'd you go?"  
  
"Dropped Veronica off at work, bus strike." He stated simply. He was sure he hadn't mentioned her being on a mountain.Sunny sat infront of the mirror. In three days time she was going to see her sister. She had a vague picture of Violet in her head. She couldn't see her clearly, it was like looking at her through bobbled glass. She could hear her voice clearly. Sometimes at night she could hear her speaking aswell, she thought she was going mad but... sometimes it was advice. Stupid things like 'wear your hair up today it looks nice' or 'don't forget your key Sunny you know Klaus won't be in' But the stupid thing was it was a fourteen year old voice. Violet would be eighteen/nineteen by now. Sunny sighed. She looked like her sister, or so Duncan always told her. Duncan sometimes scared her when he talked like that.  
  
"Isadora?" asked Sunny. "Could you do me a favour?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"help me with this." She was trying to use a crocodile clip in her hair but it wasn't working too well. Isadora smiled.  
  
"You're growing up Sunny."  
  
"Nobody else seems to notice." She whispered.  
  
"What's brought all this on then?" Isadora asked running a brush through Sunny's ebony locks.  
  
"Klaus doesn't even notice me anymore, he still thinks of me as if I'm two, and he thinks I don't remember my parents...or Violet. I do."  
  
"I know you do, I guess Klaus is just still trying to protect you from reality."  
  
"Count Olaf isn't here anymore, the VFD scared him off."  
  
"I know Sunny, listen tomorrow I don't really feel like going to poetry class... how about you take a day off and we'll sit and natter about the world eh?" Sunny smiled. Isadora was the closest thing she had to a relative including Klaus. Klaus was so distant with her."Ready to go?" Duncan asked. Veronica looked up for a moment.  
  
"Give me two minutes I have to go get dressed." Veronica was wearing a tight black dress which didn't really suit her, it showed a lot of skin, or did it? When Duncan looked closer she was wearing what appeared to be a flesh coloured -pair of tights- type catsuit on her body. She smiled wryly.  
  
"Honestly Duncan what do you take me for." The club was very loud still. He felt very out of place as he waited for her to finish in the bathroom. As she came out he gave a slight jolt. She was tying up her hair in a ribbon, he'd seen her with the ribbon in but as she put it in she looked like... no.  
  
"What?" Veronica asked nervously. He realised he'd been staring and looked incredibly embarrassed.  
  
"Nothing, come on."  
  
"Do you believe in fate or is it all coincidences?" Veronica asked as she got in the car beside him.  
  
"Lob me a softball why don't you? I think, some things are just coincidences."  
  
"Fate." Veronica stated simply. She did her seatbelt up. "There are some things in life you can't control. Feelings, you can't help them, is that coincidence? Family, I mean I ended up with the worst family in the world, but I'm alright... is that coincidence?"  
  
"What's with all the questions?" he asked.  
  
"Don't know, I just, I ran into a friend of my dad's at the pub, got me thinking about my past I guess."  
  
"There's going to be people you run into who remind you of something in your life... a woman might say 'sorry dear' and you remember your birth mother."  
  
"You know? This is going to sound mad but, you remind me of someone, I don't know who but...someone." He smirked.  
  
"Maybe it's fate." He joked. She blushed. They got out of the car and into the flat. It was nearly two am. Nobody was up.  
  
"Night then." Veronica said quietly.  
  
"Night." He whispered. 'There are some things in life you can't control.' The next thing Veronica knew she was stood infront of him, kissing him. She couldn't remember her first kiss [that was...if she'd had one.] so she was almost certain this counted as her first. They broke off.  
  
"See you in the morning." She whispered. She didn't want to end it but she knew she had to."Listen about last night..."  
  
"It's ok, honest it doesn't matter, have you guys seen my pencil case?" Isadora threw her a pencil case which she caught with her right hand.  
  
"Do you know where I stand with you."  
  
"Want to know where you stand? It was you who kissed me!" she hissed. She tried to push past him but he held fast. "If I'm late I risk losing my scholarship, I already risk being late because of the bus strike."  
  
"I'll drive you." she knew he wasn't going to give up.  
  
"Fine then, whatever."  
  
"Isadora I'll see you at school." Isadora shifted uncomfortably.  
  
"No you wont... I'm staying home to...look after Sunny she says she doesn't feel so good." That was a lie and she knew it. She knew Sunny was in her bedroom reading her book. Sometimes a little white lie was better than the truth"Ok."  
  
"So..."  
  
"64th street." Veronica said strapping herself in.  
  
"Look." They both said at the same time. She blushed. "You go first."  
  
"Last night... I don't know why you kissed back but it...it wasn't fair of me to kiss you, I'm sorry."  
  
"It's ok I understand." Veronica said slightly disappointed.  
  
"No let me explain and you'll understand. Remember how we told you Klaus's sister died?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"I REALLY liked her... never got the chance to tell her though, I felt awful after that, and I haven't been attracted to a girl in ages."  
  
"Oh," Oh in this case means 'oh dear' rather than 'oh I heard you but I'm not even faintly interested in what you had to say'  
  
"When you wear your hair up you look like her I guess I... I was confused ok." Veronica fingered her hair ribbon. She took it out and said.  
  
"I'm not Violet." She handed him the ribbon.  
  
"How did you know she was called..." he started. She shrugged.  
  
"Colette said it was a gift, if someone's thinking of something, I can pick up on it. You were thinking of the mountain last night and you're thinking of her now." She whispered.  
  
"Who's Colette?" he asked trying to avoid talking about psychic tendancies. He was starting to get sspicious of this girl.  
  
"That 'friend' of my dads."  
  
He dropped her off at college feeling worse than ever. Violet was dead. She probably never liked him anyway, so why couldn't he move on? He felt like he was betraying her memorySunny wanted Klaus to hold her hand as they walked in the morgue. It was scary. She wanted to see her sister but... Why wouldn't he hold her hand. She was six for gods sakes!  
  
"Klaus Baudelaire?"  
  
"Yeah, this is Sunny Baudelaire."  
  
"Ok you give consent for her to view the body."  
  
"Yes. Can we... get this over with." The receptionist led them into a room. A body was there covered with a white sheet. Sunny knew her brother hadn't held her hand since before Violet died. She reached up and grabbed his hand. He had to realise she still loved him without Violet around.  
  
"Is this the body of your sister?" the sheet was removed. Sunny gasped and buried her head in her brothers stomach. A woman's body lay on the table. Long Black hair cascaded down her back, a sheet had been placed over the face to spare trauma. One look at this body and Klaus said.  
  
"No. That's not her." Sunny squeaked and looked up. All her thoughts about being the only Baudelaire girl were changed.  
  
"Esmé Squalor!" she said.  
  
"That's the body of Esmé Squalor yes.""You know a few days ago when you asked me if I believe in fate? I change my mind. I do." Duncan said.  
  
"Cheeky beggar you're not supposed to change your mind." She said. Isadora had gone out to clear her head. Quigley was at work [Saturday] and Veronica had had a half day.  
  
"Well I changed it." She laughed and turned the television on. It was the news.  
  
"Boring." Said Duncan but immediately he knew it was not. Klaus was on telly.  
  
'Look leave us alone.' Klaus said angrily.  
  
"Well Klaus Baudelaire chose to give no comment but he identified the body as that of Esmé Squalor and not of his sister.""THAT'S MY MUM!" Veronica said suddenly. Duncan looked totally puzzled.  
  
"Klaus's sister would be your age..."  
  
"Not her. Esmé Squalor, she's my mum." Duncan gave a jolt.  
  
"You must be..." he wasn't going to say 'mistaken' he was about to say something stupid. Thankfully she cut him off.  
  
"Don't say I'm mistaken I've seen enough pictures and dad never shut up about her."  
  
"Was your dad's name Olaf?" She looked puzzled.  
  
"No, Daniel Davis." She said in puzzlement. "Why...Olaf rings a bell though."  
  
"Listen I suggest you don't mention Esmé or Olaf infront of Klaus Sunny or my siblings."  
  
"Ok...why?"  
  
"Nevermind," he said shaking his head. He'd let his imagination run away again. He had to stop that. She paused. And muttered. 'Olaf,' over and over. She kneaded her temples.  
  
"I'm off to bed I have a headache." She said bitterly and walked off. Duncan followed her.  
  
Fin...for now 


End file.
